Seagate introduces us to DAVE

Seagate announced its Digital Audio Video Experience (DAVE) this week: a …

More drive-makers are adding to the selection of mobile content servers to debut in 2007, as Seagate formally announced this week the Digital Audio Video Experience (DAVE). DAVE will be a small, portable hard drive that will use WiFi and Bluetooth to transfer media and other files between devices. Seagate's goal with DAVE will be to allow users to freely access their files at any time from nearly any device.

DAVE will come in the form of a slim, Motorola RAZR-sized drive enclosure that appears to be aimed heavily at the mobile phone market. Seagate states that DAVE will be "the answer" for providing more storage to mobile phones without having to bump the cost or size of handsets themselves, in addition to allowing service providers to increase music and video services without as much concern about available storage space. DAVE will also allow two-way communication from various devices, meaning that users will also be able to navigate the contents of the drive from their cell phones and laptops. Seagate expects DAVE's battery life to be able to handle about 14 days of standby and 10 hours of media streaming performance.

Like the Agere BluOnyx media server announced at the end of last year, Seagate is not marketing the device under its own corporate name, but instead allowing other companies to sell the product with their own branding. It will also be an open-source system, allowing third-party developers to write apps to interface with DAVE from various devices. Unlike the BluOnyx, however, the DAVE will have lower storage capacity (10-20GB, compared to BluOnyx's "up to" 40GB) and will not have any sort of wired USB connection or card reader, possibly limiting its use to newer devices and savvier users who know how to set up WiFi and Bluetooth on their laptops and cell phones.

Seagate says that the company hopes the DAVE will turn mobile phones into "DVR/MP3 powerhouses," but that doesn't necessarily mean that the drive will enable unauthorized devices to play DRMed files. Agere's BluOnyx will be "DRM agnostic," the company told Ars at CES, meaning that it will respect whatever usage rights are associated with a media file, acting merely as a mass-storage device. It's likely that the DAVE will function in the same manner due to the hoops the company would likely have to jump through in order to authorize other devices to play DRMed content. Both the BluOnyx and DAVE are expected to be available in 2007, with the DAVE beating BluOnyx to market in the second quarter of the year.